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PLYMOUTH, MICH. -- Friday night, the Sarnia Sting were outplayed by the Plymouth Whalers for three periods. Saturday night they were outplayed for just one, but the results were ultimately the same.

The Whalers surged in the second period, outshooting the Sting 18-5 and scoring twice to make the difference in a 3-2 game Saturday night at Compuware Arena, taking a 2-0 lead in their first round playoff series.

“They were coming pretty hard in the second period. I almost called a timeout halfway through it,” said Sting head coach Jacques Beaulieu. “We made a bad change and that’s how they got their third goal.”

The Whalers again opened the scoring early, as Mitchell Heard snapped a shot over J.P. Anderson’s glove just 1:26 into the game to give the Whalers a 1-0 lead.

The Sting struck back later in the first when Nick Latta tipped an Alex Basso point shot past Alex Nedeljkovic.

Zack Lorentz and Tom Wilson broke open the 1-1 tie with second period goals for the Whalers, both scoring on two-on-one plays.

Reid Boucher cut the lead to 3-2 with a no look backhand on the power play in the third, and from there Plymouth held on for the win as the Sting outshot them 13-7 in the third on the strength of multiple power plays, but couldn’t find an equalizer.

“We don’t have a bunch of quitters in there. They’re going to compete and they’re going to work hard,” Beaulieu said.

The los represents a much better effort from the Sting after Friday’s 11-2 drubbing at the hands of the Whalers. Though they leave Michigan without a win in the series, Saturday’s game gave them something to build on when the series shifts to the RBC Centre on Monday.

“The kids were working a lot harder than they worked last night,” Beaulieu said.

“Yesterday I thought there was just way too much respect for their team and we watched them play. Tonight we didn’t.”

Both of Sarnia’s goals came on the power play for the second straight night as the Sting went 2-10 with the man advantage, and even-strength play is something that has to improve if the Sting hope to still be playing after Wednesday.

“Our five-on-five play has to be better,” Beaulieu said. “I don’t think we’ll win a hockey game unless we get 40 shot s on net against this team, and that’s what we need to do.”

The Sting lost veteran defenceman Alex Basso to a match penalty for slashing late in the second period, When he retaliated to a slash from Tom Wilson with a two-handed slash of his own to Wilson’s arm. Sarnia will be without him for a couple more games at least as the match penalty carries a mandatory two-game suspension.

“It’s a tough loss for us, but we hope that the suspension’s not too bad,” said Sting captain Charlie Sarault. “We talked about that: they’re chippy guys and behind the play they’ll try to get you to bite on a penalty.”

Sarault will be the second player suspended for actions in this series. Plymouth’s Matt Mistele was out of the lineup Saturday after a hit to the head of Sarnia’s Alex Carnevale on Friday. Mistele was suspended indefinitely Saturday. Carnevale was out of the lineup for Sarnia with concussion symptoms.